


The Greatest Thing (you'll ever learn)

by mikeginsanity (blahblahwahwah)



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Introspection, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 22:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10626159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blahblahwahwah/pseuds/mikeginsanity
Summary: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.“Nature Boy” w. Eden Ahbez, p. Nat King Cole





	

**Author's Note:**

> IDK what this is.  
> it just had to be written.

 

* * *

 

 

Mike discovered the meaning of ' _To love'_ with Rachel.

He didn’t have the makings of a commitment-phile when they first met. He was a philanderer, a charmer. He got a kick out of making girls blush, laugh or at least smile sweetly. For him it translated to admiration – affection – appreciation; things he thought were love.

He’d argue for a case of love at first sight with Rachel. Sexual attraction at first sight, definitely. A flirtation that was cold shouldered at first meeting, making him want more of this sweet-faced, foxy intelligent woman who knew her mind, knew her path and was laser focussed on her work. She ignored him, then rejected him, ignored him again, at times vaguely social, at times friendly but not beyond a point.

She was a challenge and an enigma.  Mike loved the decoding. The thrill of pursuing her made up for all the effort. Even when he proposed marriage, she played hard to get. She wasn’t one to give him a lifetime of togetherness without guarantees. She made him work at it. It was hard, but he loved it.

He had convinced himself that Rachel was his best friend and he was happy to make the effort, until he became comfortable enough to be complacent.

If he was really being honest, their arguments were polite, but forcefully so. Rachel did not tolerate outbursts and would chastise him by refusing to entertain anything that was vehement or uncouth. The longer their fights, the grander the gestures that went into reconciliation. It was a push and pull.

There was a rapidly building wall of what could not be said to her with little portholes of what could be said to her.

He withheld things about himself, about his team, about his friends, about his childhood for fear of judgment and condemnation. He reserved his private fears and his deepest desires for fear of disapproval. There were days when he got so wound up, that he was secretly happy she wasn’t around for fear that it might spill out in front of her. Mike was so terrified of losing her to his negativity that he tried his best to repress his emotion even if he was left with suppressed anger and unresolved frustration.

Nonetheless, Rachel enjoyed public displays of affection. She liked being kissed in front of the cameras, and being hugged at public events. She liked holding hands when they moved around. She liked it when Mike would keep his arm around her – and Mike liked to mark her as his by keeping it purposely over her hip.

The sex was great. Filled with flirting, fun and banter. Mike liked to give in bed – he liked being considerate and entertaining. And Rachel was receptive and she gave back in equal measure – but never more.

She was openly affectionate in expressions, her “I love you”s were frequent, unguarded, given freely – and he _thought_ they would be enough to compensate for the gaping emptiness that his father left and his mother could never properly fill.

But as it turned out, his “I love you”s were not enough for her.

 

 

Ginny was the one woman he didn’t give a damn about impressing. The one woman he actively did not want to get involved with. The one woman he made an effort _not_ to flirt with.

The one woman he did not want to fall in love with.

And yet it happened. She became his best friend, and he didn’t even realize when. He fell in love with her – and he didn’t even have to try.

Everything about them was unplanned, uncoordinated. Free from mind games, no chase, no thrills. Their banter was openly sarcastic, less kittenish and laden with things unsaid, but surely understood.

The first time they hugged intimately, he sighed because it felt like a breath of fresh air had taken charge of him.  The first time they kissed, Mike felt like he was sucked into a vortex of something fierce and consuming.  The first time they made love, Mike was surrounded by the same emotion, magnified ten times over.

It surprised Mike how little work was involved in being _with_ Ginny.

They fight with a wildness, where at times it feels like they could brew a storm with all heat in their the back and forth. Ironically it leaves Mike relieved in the aftermath, having let all his fury out with no fear of judgement. There's no rejection, no prolonged silent phases, no need for grand apologies. She accepts him back with a nod. Forgives him without question.

It scared him at first because it was addictive, overpowering. He wanted to pour out his soul to her, tell her his deepest fears, confide his darkest secrets. He craved her silent companionship as much as he desired her heated tirades. He longed for the chaste brush of her hand against his as much as he yearned to be inside her body.

In public, Ginny is guarded and does not like public displays of affection. She doesn’t like to be perceived as belonging to someone. They stand together, touch briefly, never kiss. Mike has to remind himself that they’re in a relationship.

But.

Their lovemaking is almost always a competition of who could give each other more, and Mike always ends up the (happy) loser. She consumes him with her generosity. Her affection engulfs him. Her magical aura leeches the darkness from him, replaces the vacant spaces with an incomprehensible brightness. In each intimate physical interaction, whether platonic or sexual, she wraps herself around him; her body leaner and smaller than his by half, yet she throws herself at him with full force, gripping him like she is holding his broken parts together by her frame. 

He wakes up at times on his front, with her full weight draped on his back, like she’d thrown her body over his to protect him. She grabs his face, randomly, and plasters loud smacking kisses all over his face like she intends to comfort him.  She grins at him, without preamble, her dimples as bright as her eyes, like she's trying to cheer him up.

Ginny’s “I love you”s are seldom and whispered with caution, like she’s afraid the admission would cost her a part of herself. They’re communicated by eyes more than her mouth, more by her touch than her voice.

And yet Mike has never felt more loved in his life. She completes him in a way he never anticipated and he can never describe. It's why an "I love you" from him seems pointless and redundant. It's like she knows and doesn't need to hear it. 

Mike discovered the meaning of _'To be loved'_ with Ginny.

 

\--x-- 


End file.
